Do you have questions about the Bible, maybe need help with a difficult Bible verse or an entire passage of Scripture? Maybe you have questions about God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. One internet site where biblical and theological questions are answered tells us it has answered 721,690 questions at the time this podcast episode airs. That’s a lot of questions, and we all have them. Often, unable to figure them out on our own, the answers elude us and leave us confused. But the Bible has answers, and the goal of this podcast is to help you see, understand, and be able to take and apply biblical truth to your living. Dr. Richard Caldwell and Dr. Josh Philpot sit down today to tackle several challenging questions on free will, Satan in the garden, how to explain the Trinity, and the unforgivable sin. In answering these questions, they aim to point us back to the Scriptures and to our God, who gave them. So grab your copy of God’s Word, sit down, and follow along on this extended episode of the Straight Truth Podcast.

Did Adam have free will before sinning in the garden?

Dr. Caldwell says that before the fall, Adam had the ability to obey God and the ability to disobey God. Adam chose (freely) to disobey. Immediately after sinning, Adam and Eve lost the freedom to obey God. Adam’s sin involved spiritual death, where he lost the ability not to sin. Now a sinner, unable to obey God from the heart and not able to please God in any way. 

What then is now the state of the Christian as compared to Adam’s original state? Dr. Caldwell speaks of what Christ came to do, did, and accomplished and what that means for us as believers. As new creatures in Christ, we now have the freedom to obey God. But until we are glorified with new bodies, we still battle the flesh and indwelling sin. One day, however, when we are glorified and have new physical bodies that match our new spiritual natures, we will no longer be able to sin. In this way, it will be superior to what Adam knew in the garden before the fall.

Why did God allow Satan into the garden of Eden?

In the Scriptures, God’s special revelation to man, He has chosen to reveal some things and other things He has left unrevealed. Dr. Caldwell says we can call them mysteries or the secret things of God. There are things God has told us because He wants us to know and other things He has chosen not to. One of the greatest disciplines we will learn as Christians is to be content with what God has revealed. So then the answer to this question, while the specific reason is not given, is that God does everything He does for His glory. God has allowed this for His glory, to make truth about Himself known, to put it on display.

When it comes to these kinds of questions, we need to be content to leave them with God and take the simple, straightforward testimony of the Scriptures. As finite creatures, we are not meant to get our heads around everything that our all-knowing, all-wise, sovereign Creator has done. We need to simply embrace this in faith and be content. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We only know true joy when God’s glory is preeminent. When we find ourselves in endless speculations over why God had done or allowed what He has allowed, not being content, it won’t lead us to lasting joy. God has a purpose for all that He does and allows. There is a greater end beyond the thing itself that God delights in, and His glory is put on display.

How can we explain the doctrine of the Trinity to unbelievers?

The doctrine of the Trinity is fundamental to the whole of Christianity. This doctrine teaches that God is three persons in one divine essence. It’s a difficult doctrine in some sense to get our own minds around and can be even harder to explain to someone who is not a Christian. Dr. Caldwell says when attempting to explain the Trinity to anyone, we will never do better than to say what Scripture says. Yes, there are creeds and confessions that are vital and can be helpful as we think about the Trinity. But even these creeds and confessions, formed and written by those that have gone before us, have been labored over to explain with very careful language to simply state what the Scriptures say and to make sure that what we say about the Trinity isn’t in conflict with what Scripture says. That’s why in our attempts to declare who the true God is, we just need to say what the Bible says because this is where God has revealed Himself to us. So we can open up His Word and take people to all the passages that would make the Trinity inescapable, prepared to make the case from the Scriptures themselves.

Have I committed the unpardonable sin?

Dr. Philpot shares that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is often associated with the unforgivable sin. But many people don’t know what blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is. Dr. Philpot shares the text of Matthew 12:30-31, where this is mentioned by Jesus. There’s this concern in not knowing what it is that someone may have committed it. But as Christians, can we commit this?

Dr. Caldwell says when we talk about blasphemy, we are talking about something overtly insulting to an outrageous degree. Specifically, as we think about God, it is about thoughts, attitudes, and words that insult and mock God. In the passage Dr. Philpot shared, the emphasis is on the spoken word, and what the Lord conveys here is a kind of speech against the Holy Spirit that will not be forgiven; in this age or the age to come.

Dr. Caldwell says he isn’t certain that this particular sin can be committed today because of the very nature of it. Here was the Son of God on the earth performing miraculous works in the power of the Holy Spirit, with the Pharisees attributing those works to Satan. Dr. Caldwell briefly explains what is taking place in Matthew 12 and says that it is really an unrepeatable set of circumstances. He sees it as a warning that the Lord Jesus never attempts to quantify. He also says that even if he is wrong and if you care whether you have committed this sin or not, then you haven’t. What’s envisioned in Matthew 12 is someone who sees what is taking place and then, with vicious blasphemy rejects the truth.